suspension Q - loose top hat

[moose.cannon]

My U12 developed a clunking sound at the front right which turned out to be a loose top hat nut. They're standard shocks with cobra super low springs, how do I stop the inside of the shock turning so that I can tighten the top hat nut? or do I have to remove the shock and spring to do so?

[touge_ae101]

rattle gun.

[moose.cannon]

so just shove a rattle gun on it and go hard?

[touge_ae101]

i'm not all that qualified as i'm no mechanic but this is how i do it. just make sure you're not tightening it up on the highest setting or you won't get it off again.
could even be worth replacing the nylock nut if it has worked itself loose.

[2LTR Rona]

so just shove a rattle gun on it and go hard?

Not if the tophat has the locating D section in it for the shock shaft, its the D section cut along the top of the shock shaft & in to the top hat that stops it spinning & enables it to be tightened.

If your car has this setup then until to line both sections up so it locates correctly it will all be in the piss, slightly out of alignment and possibly putting additional load on other parts its not meant to.

First confirm if your shock / tophat run this setup with the D section for locating, if so it might be a pull the lot out job, you might get lucky and be able to line it all up while its still on the car

If it doesnt run this setup and just has the normal O pattern in the tophat then you're probably safe just hitting it with a rattle gun or similar

[moose.cannon]

cheers, because I'm a noob, I have to ask the question how does one find out if the shock has a magical locating D section without pulling the shock out?

[RS13]

..

[moose.cannon]

has a flat spot, looks a little fiddly to put grips on and tighten at the same time :\

[touge_ae101]

don't put grips on there you will ruin the thread on the other side of it. the little 'D' cutout slots into a corresponding 'D' on the top hat which holds it in place and locates the shaft correctly for tightening.

if this was not located properly to begin with it may be why the nut came loose. it is a tricky job to get it to sit in there right with the shock in the car, so as mentioned above, it might be easier to take the whole strut out of the car and start again.

[moose.cannon]

cheers touge, will I have to take the springs out to line it up? its been ages since I put the springs in and im no mechanic

[sergei]

if shock is not rooted it will have tendency to go up, combined with car trying to compress spring while you rotate the nut, it should pop in by itself.

Unless of course the D became O on the flange due to over-tightening.

[touge_ae101]

hmm it can be done with it in the car but is a bit of faffing around and easier with two people. whereas taking it out will be much easier.

[moose.cannon]

hmm it can be done with it in the car but is a bit of faffing around and easier with two people. whereas taking it out will be much easier.

sweeeet. by taking 'it' out do you mean the shock and the spring or just the shock? I do recal a D that the bolt fitted into when changing the springs.

cheers

[touge_ae101]

take the shock out but will probably have to take it all apart to line up the D before bolting it all back down.

[moose.cannon]

sweet, cheers for the info's guys. will be doin this friday _b

[allencr]

Have you tried it jacked up with the suspension hanging down & with a little extra weight on the wheel?

Also, some shocks never come anywhere close to bottoming out, so it wouldn't care if the top of its shaft had some teeth marks on it.

[moose.cannon]

took her to owens and the guy jacked it up and had a quick poke around then shoved a rattle gun on the top and problem solved! Hopefully she stays tight

[Bling]

Rattle guns fix anything that's loose

[touge_ae101]

Rattle guns fix anything that's loose

didn't work on dnalunchies sister....

runs and hides

[sergei]

Rattle guns fix anything that's loose

Rule 34